Writing Coach

As a writing coach of 30 years' experience, I work with people from every kind of organisation – businesses, civil service, law, management consultancy, universities and charities. What links all the individuals I coach is they want to learn to think and write with more clarity and impact.

I first developed this expertise in the 1980s when I spent three years working as a 'communications specialist' with McKinsey in London, helping their consultants with reports and presentations to clients. I've continued coaching people to be better writers ever since.

Help with structure

Most people I work with want to get better at organising their thinking logically, whether they are working on presentations, board papesr, policy documents, strategic plans, web pages, articles for publication or anything else. With most of these, the best structure for busy readers is ‘conclusion first’.

​I don’t need prior knowledge of the subject being written about, as I am trained to see the logical structure in any piece of writing.

Help with style

Changing an adult's writing style can be hard (as Barbara Minto pointed out years ago in her classic book, The Pyramid Principle). Nevertheless I often help people to construct better sentences, either by making suggestions on a draft, or by editing it directly. I also encourage 'freewriting' to liberate people's thinking.

My aim as a coach is to enable people to learn the skills of writing and self-editing. But, if needed, I can draft text based on a recorded interview with the author.

Giving writing a 'social life'

If you want your writing to provoke a reaction or change in behaviour, you may need to take active steps to give it a ‘social life’. For example, you could schedule a meeting to discuss the ideas with those you want to influence.

Nobody wants the piece of writing they have laboured over to disappear into a ‘black hole’, but this happens all too often. Failed implementation of written plans is one of the most serious sticking points for managers and leaders.

Making use of stories and case studies

We all know that stories can make a huge difference to a piece of writing. In another strand of my work, I practise as a ‘narrative writer’, and I am more than happy to share my experience of this fascinating subject.​ ​

​​"A good story and a well-formed argument are different natural kinds. Both can be used as means for convincing another. Yet what they convince of is fundamentally different: arguments convince one of their truth, stories of their lifelikeness.”